Overview:
From the first boat, “The Della” to today’s “Silvergate” and “Cabrillo,” the ferries of Coronado were and are an integral part of the city. The Coronado Historical Association is telling the ferries’ stories and encouraging the public to catch a glimpse of what life was like before the bridge.
Liz Forsyth-Lovell’s mom was pregnant at age 50, and the hospital where she would deliver her baby was across the bay.
The Coronado bridge was not open yet. Silver Strand sometimes flooded, and it was not the most direct route. She would have to take the ferry.
“I remember my dad calling the ferry’s office, and it was at night, of course, and they literally had to make a special ferry trip to make sure she got on the ferry in a timely manner,” Forsyth-Lovell said.
She said her mom’s fear was that she would have to give birth on deck because of the amount of work that went into getting the ferry ready to depart.
“You have to wait, the ferry has to dock, it has to load up on cars,” Forsyth-Lovell said. “It has to go across the bay and then dock again. You know, it’s a good 25 minutes… It was very stressful.”
Luckily, her mom made it to the hospital.
Forsyth-Lovell’s ferry memories are among those of many local residents who recall riding these boats from Coronado to downtown San Diego and back. Her family goes back multiple generations in Coronado. She said she made the trip four to five times a week.
Taking a ferry wasn’t a day-trip, touristy experience; it was an everyday commute – a simple part of Coronado life.
Forsyth-Lovell recalls the cars lined up, sometimes for well-over an hour, waiting to board. The fumes would waft into her family’s restaurant (Mexican Village Restaurant and Bar) – they had to buy special windows and doors to block it out.
“There were a lot of people that were really upset that the bridge went in, but it made perfect sense because of the reality of crossing,” Forsyth-Lovell said. “You know things were changing. It had to happen.”
Forsyth-Lovell said the idea of the bridge had been around for quite some time.
“A bridge was talked about since the 1930s,” Forsyth Lovell explained. “It wasn’t a new idea, because I think they always knew that they could not operate the ferries at a financial cost that would be productive.”
After the bridge opened, the ferry service shut down for more than a decade. But, in 1987, it came back for pedestrians.
Though the times had changed and cars had a more efficient route across the bay, the enticement of a seaside voyage for pedestrians remained.
And that’s the story the Coronado Historical Association is sharing in their newest exhibit. Vickie Stone curates the collections at the association and explains how they gathered the pieces of this story.
“It really was the disappearance of the ferries that kind of instigated our organization being developed because, when the bridge was put in, the bond measure to fund it had a clause in there that all other forms of public transportation within a certain distance had to cease to incentivize people to go on the toll bridge,” Stone said.
Stone said the association has been receiving donations and collecting parts of Coronado history for more than 50 years. Some things they’ve accumulated for this exhibit include ticket stubs, a fare meter, even film.
“We have over 20,000 historic photographs in the collection, and we have about a football-field worth of archival records,” Stone explained.
One wall of the exhibit shares an entire timeline of the ferry’s history – from the start of the ferry enterprise in 1885 to the ferries today. Many ferries have glided through the bay’s waters over the years and many different companies operated the business.
What many don’t know is there used to be two ferry docks that allowed you to arrive either in North Island or South Island.
The historical association partnered with Flagship Cruises – the current-day ferry company – for the exhibit.
Though they are known today under that moniker, you can actually trace this company back to one of the original ferry companies, Star & Crescent Boat Company, in Coronado.
“They’ve changed names a few times in their history, but we consider them the longest operating company on the bayfront in San Diego,” Stone said.
In the exhibit, there’s an interactive map that shares the sights and sounds of the island that boat riders heard back in the day.
“So, the inspiration for this wall was, what would you have seen if you rode the ferry or went on a harbor cruise between 1900 and 1969, when the ferry was most operational,” Stone said.
During the time period that this map depicts, Forsyth-Lovell recalled taking the ferry in her childhood with her family.
“It was definitely an era of, as kids, fun,” Forsyth-Lovell said. “But I think as adults, my parents complained about it all the time.”
She remembered the variety of people you’d see onboard.
“There were all kinds of people on it from women in their fur coats and white gloves, going shopping downtown to the local drunks getting home from San Diego,” Forsyth-Lovell said. “There were a lot of San Diego people that worked at the Hotel Del, the base and businesses in Coronado.
“It was a real mixed bag of people. It was probably an interesting look at the community that used the ferries.”
Forsyth-Lovell shared her last voyage on one of the original ferries with her dad. Despite the time-consuming nature of transporting your car by ferry, he wanted to make one last trip before they shut down.
“When the bridge was completed in the late 60s, my dad, who had connections, had arranged somehow for he and I to take our car on one of the last ferry rides that was being made across the bay and be one of the first cars over the bridge,” Forsyth-Lovell said. “I remember every bit of it. It was a very big deal. It was just him and I.”
Though Coronado was ready for the next chapter, her dad wanted to recognize the end of an era and celebrate what was to come.
“He was very proud that the bridge came in because he realized the amount of business that came into Coronado for his business,” Forsyth-Lovell said.
The “Ode to the Ferry” exhibit will be open through May. Admission is free but donations are encouraged. To learn more, visit the Coronado Historical Association’s website.
